Selangor hold favourites KL to a draw, Malacca demolish Perlis

Selangor staved off a strong onslaught from favourites Kuala Lumpur and snatched a 1-1 draw in a Group B match of the national Under-21 tournament at the National Hockey Stadium in Bukit Jalil yesterday.

KL, the Sukma (Malaysia Games) champions in Kedah last year, dominated the match but could only convert one penalty corner from the seven they earned with Hafis Jami sounding the board off their second attempt in the 44th minute.

Selangor took a defensive approach but managed to equalise off a penalty corner set-piece in the 59th minute with R. Arputharaj getting his name on the scoresheet.

Selangor and KL have four points each from two matches. Selangor defeated Johor 2-0 in their opening match on Saturday while KL demolished Perlis 5-1.

Selangor coach Paul Raj said that the tournament was part of their preparations for Sukma, which will be held in Kuala Terengganu in May.

“But I am pleased with my boys' performance in the two matches and we are in contention for a place in the semi-finals. They did well in a fast counter attack strategy against KL,” he said.

Paul added they would gun for a big win against Perlis today.

But Selangor are likely to be without defender R. Devaraj, who suffered a hamstring injury in the match against KL.

Malacca, meanwhile, registered their second big win – demolishing Perlis 6-0. Malacca, who defeated Terengganu 5-0 in their opening match, are the Group B leaders with maximum points.

Two of their players scored a brace against Perlis – skipper Nazmi Kamaruddin (4th, 22nd) and B. Namasivayam (15th, 34th). The other scorers were Mohd Arifin Dolah (20th) and Mohd Syakir Amir Kamarudin (67th).

In Group A, Negri Sembilan bounced back from an opening 3-5 defeat by Penang to beat Pahang 3-0.

Razlee Amree Mustafar gave Negri the lead in the 22nd minute off a penalty corner. Eight minutes later, G. Kavin Kartik scored off another penalty corner goal and Mohd Marhan Jalil was on target with a field goal in the 56th minute.

Coach S. Chandran was glad to see a determined display from his boys against Pahang.

“The win has put us back on track for a semi-final berth,” he said.